why cannot directly use print(something.sort())?

user_14390303 0
Viewed 497

I am a python beginner, could someone help to explain why this print() doesn't work, and python prints me a None result?

list =['a','c','d','e']
print(list.sort())

so if i make a extra step, i can get the results:

list =['a','c','d','e']
list.sort()
print(list)

Many thanks in advance

printing python
4 Answers

list.sort() is a modifying function that modifies the list. It is not a list itself. print(list.sort()) will get you None since there is no list to return from this function.

user_144230900

list.sort() modifies the list in place, meaning that it sorts the list in its current location in memory without returning anything.

What you want is sorted(list), which makes a copy of the list, sorts it, and then returns it.

user_109912100

list.sort() doesn't store your sorted list in a new variable, instead, it modifies the list directly, think of it as a procedure. you can still keep your original list by making a copy of it, just use the build-it copy method

Code:

list =['c','a','d','e']

# saving a copy of our original list
originList = list.copy()
print("original list:",originList)

# sorting our list
list.sort()
print("sorted list:",list)

Output:

oiginal list: ['c', 'a', 'd', 'e']  # the copy (now it's the original)
sorted list: ['a', 'c', 'd', 'e']    # the original (now it's sorted)
user_157409320

Answering the question implied by what you're trying to do:

If you want a one-liner to print the sorted list, you can use

print(sorted(the_list))

Note that sorted(the_list) returns a new, sorted version of the_list, and the_list remains unmodified afterwards.

user_38567310
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